Article counting machine



A. E. WHITECAR' 2,651,466

Sept. 8, 1953 ARTICLE COUNTING MACHINE Filed May 15, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l ln m e @EEEJE manna 9 INVENTOR. AL TEN E. WHITECAR ATTORNEYS Sept. 8, 1953 A. E. WHITECAR ARTICLE COUNTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 15, 1952 FIG. 5.

INVENTOR. ALTEN E. WHITECAR ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 8, 1953 ARTICLE COUNTING MACHINE Application May 15, 1952, Serial No. 287,854

Claims. 1

This invention relates to an article counting machine and, more particularly, relates to such a machine used to separate articles, for example, envelopes, into groups having a certain desired count.

This invention provides a continuously operating article counting machine which, in a novel manner, eliminates any necessity for stopping the mountin machine when a group of the desired count has been formed.

It is, therefore, the broad object of this invention to provide an article counting machine suitable for counting the number of articles that have been placed into a group and which will operate continuously.

These and other objects of this invention will be made apparent from the reading of the following description in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan View of the article counting machine in accordance with this invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the structure in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the structure of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a section taken on the plane indicated by the line 44 in Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a section taken on the plane indicated by the line 5-5 in Figure 1 showing the article lifting mechanism in the elevated position.

Referring now to the figures, particularly Figure 1, an article counting machine 2 is provided with a base 4.

Referring now to Figure 5, a trip arm 6 is pivotally secured to a shaft [0. The trip arm 6 is positioned so as to be engaged by the upward movement of the envelopes shown at 8. The lefthand end of trip arm 6, as viewed in Figure 5, is pivotally secured to a lever 12 at I3. Lever I2 is pivotally secured to lever 14 which operates a conventional spring return ratchet counter I6. The counter I6 is secured to a pedestal base 18, which is in turn secured to base 4.

Trip arm 6 has a lever 20 fixedly secured to its top. A lever 22 has its right-hand end, as viewed in Figure 5, pivotally secured to the top of lever 20. Lever 22 has, at its other end, a forked end 24 which encompasses the upper portion of a lever 26, and is pivotally secured thereto. Lever 26 is fixedly secured to a shaft 28. Shaft 28 is supported by and is axially movable through bracket support member 29 (Figure 1).

As best seen in Figure 1, lever 22 has pivotally secured thereto at 30 a lug 3| having a ledge 32 adapted to selectively engage a counter lever 33 operatively connected to spring return ratchet reset counter 3 A stop pin 35 on lever 22 is adapted to engage lug 3i.

A second lug 36 is pivotally connected at 31 to lever 22 and has a ledge 31 adapted to selectively engage a counter lever 38 operatively connected to spring return ratchet reset counter 36. A stop pin 40 on lever 22 rides in a slot 46' in lug 36. A tension coil spring 6! is secured to lugs 3| and 36 to bias them toward engagement with stop pins 36 and 46.

Referring again to shaft 28, it will be seen in Figure 1 that it carries a boss 6 which is engaged by opening 16 in arm 68 so as to be freely rotatable therein. Arm 68 is integral with bar member 69. Bar member 69 is slidably engaged by bracket members 56 and iii. A spring clip 52 secured to bracket member 5|, engages arm 68. Bar member 69 carries a pair of blocks 53 and 54, which are pivotally secured to bar 46 at 55 and 56, respectively. A coil spring 5'5 urges blocks 53 and 54 together. The travel of blocks 53 and 54 together, as urged by the spring 5? is limited by block 53, which is secured to bar 49. The bar '49 has a manipulating handle 66'.

A block 59 is fixedly secured, as by welding, to a bar 66 which is slidably held within bracket 6| secured to base 6. Block 59 has a bar 62 extending rearwardly therefrom to an opening 63 in block 64, which is secured to base i.

A coil spring has one end secured to block 64 and the other end secured to screw 66 on block 59. Spring 65 passes through opening 61 in reset handle 66. Spring 6'5 urges the block 59, bar 62 and bar 66 rearwardly, as viewed in Figure 1.

As seen best in Figure 3, block 59 has a cut-out portion 69 which is adapted to receive block member 53 or block member 56 when block 59 is appropriately positioned.

An arm 16 (Figure 1) is fixedly secured to block 59 and carries thereon a finger 12, the finger 12 being secured to arm 70 by means of a hinged connection shown at M. Finger 72 ex tends downwardly to a point in the vicinity of trip arm 6, and has at its outermost end a substantially horizontal surface 16 which is inserted in stack under last article counted when counters are switched.

Finger 12 is in the non-operating position due to the fact that block 59 is being held in a fixed position by block 54, which, as will be seen from Figure 1, is in opening 69 and thus holds block 59 3 in a fixed position, despite the force of spring 65 which is trying to move block 59 rearwardly.

It is well known to elevate, for example, envelopes past a trip arm such as 6, which is connected to a single counter. Numerous mechanisms for raising or elevating envelopes, or other articles to be counted, past a counter trip arm, are known to the art. It is, therefore, not necessary to go into any great detail with respect to mechanism used to elevate and support the envelopes 8. In Figure 1 there is shown in part an envelope deposit station 89 which is of the same essential structure as the deposit station disclosed in Patent No. 2,325,455 issued July 2'7, 1943. A conveyor chain 82 carrying a holding clip 84 is shown in Figure 1, which also shows a platen 85 utilized to elevate each envelope 8 after it has been placed on the platen by conveyor chain 82. In Figure 5 is shown a portion of a support member 99 for platen 86, which spans the conveyor chain. After the envelopes are raised they drop back onto hinged flaps 92.

Platen 86 has a cut-out portion 93 to permit it to pass by arm 5 and a second cut-out portion 94 to permit passage by finger 12 when it is extended rearwardly. Vertical guide bars 96 hold the envelopes in position in the stack.

As will be readily apparent, the deposit station of Patent No. 2,325,455 may be readily used, needing only to be modified to permit the lifting platen to pass freely by arm 5 and finger 12.

The invention here will be further illustrated by a description of the operation of the embodiment of the invention shown in the figures. Before the envelopes 8 are stacked, bar 49 is adjusted to have one of the ledges 32 or 31 engage a counter lever, for example, the lever 33 as engaged by ledge 32 as the parts are shown in the figures. Block 59 and bars 69 and 62 are then moved against spring 55 until spring 51 pulls block 54 within opening 59 so as to engage block 59. Stacking of letters 8 will then be commenced using platen 85. As each envelope 9 is passed upwardly, it moves trip arm 6 about rod I9, which results in the downward movement of lever I2 and lever Hi to actuate counter [6. It will be noted that counter I6 is always in operation and thus maintains a total count of all the envelopes stacked. As the parts are shown in the figures, the rotation of lever arm 6 moves lever 20 counterclockwise, as shown in Figure 5, moving lever 22 to the left, which in turn rotates lever 26 and rod 29 counterclockwise, as viewed in Figure 5, resulting in the actuation of lever 33 by ledge 32 to show a count on counter 34. The spring return of counter 34 restores these elements to their normal position. When a stack of envelopes of the desired number, as shown by counter 54, has been made, bar 49 is pulled to the right, as viewed in Figure 1, to carry arm 48, rod 28 and lever 22 to the ri ht to eifect the engagement of ledge 31' with lever 38, and thus place counter 94 out of operation and counter 39 in operation. Subsequent operation of counter 39 is eifected in exactly the same manner as the previously described operation of counter 34. The pivotal connections between lever 22 and levers 29 and 26 have sufficient play to allow for the sidewise movement of levers 22 and 25.

The shifting of bar 49 to the right carries block 54 sufficiently far to the right so that it is wholly removed from opening 59, thus permitting spring 55 to move block 59 and its associated elements rearwardly, as viewed in Figure 1, which in turn 4 moves arm 19 and finger 12 rearwardly so as to interpose finger 12 under the last envelope counted by counter 34. The operator will then remove all of the envelopes 3 above finger 12.

The operator will now reset counter 34 to zero and will pull block 59 against spring 65, which will permit the entry of block 53 into opening 59, to hold block 59 against spring 65 and place finger 12 in a disengaged position.

After the proper count is shown on counter 39, bar 49 will be pushed to the left, as viewed in Figure 1, resulting in the disengagement of ledge 31 with lever 38, and reengagement of ledge 32 and lever 33, to place counter 39 out of operation and counter 34 back in operation. This wil1 also result in the release of block 53 from opening 59 in block 59, which, in the manner previously described, will cause finger 12 to be placed under the last envelope counted by counter 39, thus permitting the accurate removal of the newly counted stack of envelopes.

The pivotal arrangement of lugs 3| and 35 with spring 4| permits smooth operation if bar 49 is moved during a period when lever 22 is in motion, since when the lugs are pulled against, for example, a counter lever, they will be freely rotated, snapping back into position when the lever 22 returns to its rearward position.

Spring clip 52 is used to keep bar 49 from moving out of the selected position incident to vibration, or the like.

It is not desired to be limited except as set forth in the following claims, the above description being by way of illustration only.

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for counting articles being stacked, which comprises a lever pivotally mounted to have one end thereof in the path of the articles being stacked and adapted to be pivoted by the passage of each article, a pair of spring return reset counters, means to selectively engage said pivoted lever with said counters, a finger adapted to be interposed between the articles being stacked, said finger being operatively engaged with said means to effect the interposition of the finger between the articles being stacked when said means is operated to shift from one counter to the other, and means to independently retract said finger from between the articles being stacked.

2. A machine for counting articles being stacked, which comprises a lever pivotally mounted to have one end thereof in the path of the articles being stacked and adapted to be pivoted by the passage of each article, a pair of spring return reset counters, a second lever connected to said first mentioned lever and having lugs adapted to selectively engage said counters, respectively, means to move said second lever to effect the selective engagement of said lugs with said counters, a finger adapted to be interposed between the articles being stacked, said finger being operatively engaged with said means to effect the interposition of the finger between the articles being stacked when said means is operated to shift from one counter to the other, and means to independently retract said finger from between the articles being stacked.

3. A machine for counting articles being stacked, which comprises a lever pivotally mounted to have one end thereof in the path of the articles being stacked and adapted to be pivoted by the passage of each article, a pair of spring return reset counters, a second lever connected to said first mentioned lever and having lugs adapted to selectively engage said counters, respectively, means to move said second lever to efiect the selective engagement of said lugs with said counters, said lugs being pivotally mounted, spring means to bias said lugs into operative position, a finger adapted to be interposed between the articles being stacked, said finger being operatively engaged with said means to effect the interposition of the finger between the articles being stacked when said means is operated to shift from one counter to the other, and means to independently retract said finger from between the articles being stacked.

4. A machine for counting articles being stacked, which comprises a lever pivotally mounted to have one end thereof in the path of the articles being stacked and adapted to be pivoted by the passage of each article, a pair of spring return reset counters, means to selectively engage said pivoted lever with said counters, a slidable member, a finger pivotally secured to said slidable member, a spring adapted to move the slidable member to a position so as to interpose said finger between the articles being stacked, stop means to selectively hold said slidable member against the spring to maintain the finger in an operative position, said stop means being operatively connected to said first mentioned means so as to efiect the release of V the slidable member on actuation of said first lugs adapted to selectively engage said counters,

respectively, a slidably mounted bar connected to said second lever and adapted to effect the selective engagement of said lugs with said counters, a slidably mounted block, a finger pivotally secured to said block, a spring adapted to slide said block to interpose said finger between articles being stacked, a pair of block members pivotally secured to said bar and adapted to selectively engage an opening in said first mentioned block to hold the pair of blocks against the spring, the movement of said bar effecting the disengagement of the blocks and the actuation of the spring.

ALTEN E. WHITECAR.

No references cited. 

